(Photo from BillyMick.com)
Out singer Billy Mick has had a busy summer. He has performed at a number of Pride events throughout Central Florida, popped up at numerous LGBTQ+ venues and has been hosting his own variety show brunch at The 808. He has also been hard at work on creating music for a new album expected to be released early next year.
Mick released his first single, “Flesh and Bone,” four years ago last month and since then has been bringing his upbeat and authentic brand of music to Pride festivals and LGBTQ+ venues throughout Central Florida and beyond. He also recently celebrated two years of his popular live variety show, “Billy Mick & Friends, which coincidentally also celebrated its one-year mark as a variety show brunch at The 808 in Orlando this month.
Mick was gracious enough to chat with Watermark ahead of the release of his new single “I Found My Voice,” which came out today, about his music, variety show and being out and proud in the music business.
How has your summer been going? It seems like you are everywhere.
The summer has been great. Yeah, I did Kissimmee Pride, I did Polk Pride, I did Tampa Pride earlier this year; it’s been wonderful because that’s what I’ve really wanted to do. I want to get out there and do more Pride events and I’m so happy I’ve been able to do all this.
I have an opening coming up at Corner of the Universe, they are having their grand opening on Sept. 1, and I’m also going to be at Space Coast Pride on September 23.
Why was performing at Pride events so important to you?
When I first moved to Orlando in ’90, I recorded a demo that I tried to get in with a boy band and everyone told me I wouldn’t make it in this business as an out gay male, so I stepped back with my own music and worked at theme parks. Then my husband and I went to Manchester Pride and they had three stages set up with all these entertainers, and the stages were packed all day. And it wasn’t just LGBTQIA+, it was all of Manchester that was there. Seeing those stages, I thought this might just be a good time in my life to do this.
That’s why I started in 2018 recording my music again and when I started I knew that I wanted to be a part of all these Prides and it has been the most rewarding thing. It’s difficult as an indie artist, because when I do my variety shows I don’t sing my own songs, but at a Pride event I Do and everyone is listening and focusing their attention on you. I’ve had so many young people come to me and say “You’re lyrics really spoke to me,” “I really love your energy” and it’s nice, I mean being 51, being able to have that life experience and pass a positive message on of being yourself and loving who you are.
That’s so important, especially for queer people like us who grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s when most LGBTQ+ performers were in the closet and the ones who weren’t would write songs to be gender neutral to avoid having the song perceived as being “gay.”
I’ve never shied away from being a queer artist, but I still use “you” and “I” instead of pronouns with my music today but it’s because I want everyone to feel included no matter what your pronoun is. But before, it was we couldn’t put that out there and let everyone know what we was singing about.
It’s amazing seeing performers now, Sam Smith is one who comes to mind, who go out there and perform authentically not giving a damn what other people think, and I think you do that as well. You perform out and proud which is great to see.
Thank you, I really try to do that every time.
You have this great variety show that you do called “Billy Mick and Friends,” and you recently celebrated an anniversary with it.
I’ve been doing it for two years at different locations, but I have been doing it for one year now at The 808. That has been a wonderful marriage. [Drag icon] April Fresh and I have talked about how great it is to work at The 808. They are such a wonderful family and so supportive and appreciative of the arts and everything that we do.
Your show is kind of a throwback to those old variety shows from the ‘70s and ‘80s. What appealed to you about starting a variety show like this?
When you’re a ‘70s and ‘80s kid that was the goal, to have a show like that. That’s what I always wanted to do. A couple of years ago when Häos [on Church], god rest its soul, was open, Blue Star was booking different shows and she was looking to book a Thursday show and she wanted me to do it. So I asked her, listen I’m a track act and I wear a cute outfit, me standing out there for an hour does not drive traffic through the door as far as I’m concerned, but I thought about it and said I have always wanted to do a variety show so let’s just do one.
I started doing that and whenever I would leave the stage and come back I would be in a different outfit, we would have different guests. I wanted it to be a platform for other artists to come in and promote what they are working on, fostering that sense of supporting all the arts. As an LGBTQ+ performer, in our community, a lot of times we only think of drag queens and disco divas, we don’t really think of all the other queer performers. I was really excited to be able to start something that would have a lot of that representation in my show.
Let’s talk about the “and Friends” part of the show. How do you decide what types of performers you want to include in your shows and how do you find them?
I worked in show direction at Universal for 17 years, so I was constantly casting new talent, always on the lookout for new talent, so once we were let go from Universal, it freed up a lot of time for us to be able to go see all these shows. And we try to see as many shows as we can. I love discovering a new show or performer and thinking “This person is amazing, they don’t know me but I have to introduce myself and tell them I want them in my show.”
I do try to have a really good blend. I always have at least one drag performer, I really love the comedy drag queens and drag performers who can sing. A lot of times drag performers don’t get a chance to show off their real voice because that isn’t what the shows are for, so I love having them in my show so they can showcase that talent. I also love giving performers a platform to showcase something that they normally don’t do. I tell everyone “Do something you know is going to be fabulous and then do something you’ve never done before that you want to try out and see if it works.” This show is a great place to do it.
Something else you are known for with your shows, other than showcasing great performances, is your costumes. You have such an amazing collection.
It has been really nice to be able to have a platform to try out these different costumes. When you think of an old variety show you think of the costumes, so it started with just wanting to change into something else whenever I left the stage and it grew from there. I was getting such a great response from the audiences and started to really get into it. It’s a lot of fun.
You include a lot of drag performers in your shows, and this has been a tough year for drag performers in Florida. Has the conservative attacks on drag impacted your shows at all?
As far as performing it has not had an impact because I am not going to back down from having drag in my shows. At The 808 it was decided we were going to 18 and up at all our shows because of everything, which was fine because I have burlesque dancers in my show sometimes. It is what we call corporate burlesque, they don’t take it all off. That was something that as nervous as I’ve been, and you get anxious before a show because you never know what might happen and who might show up, but regardless of nerves pulling back on drag is something that I wouldn’t even consider at all.
Going to 18 and up was unfortunate because I do have people who come to the show who have kids, and the first couple shows I had they brought their kids and now they ask me when are you going to have a show that isn’t 18 and up and I tell them probably not anytime soon but we’ll have to see how thing continue to go.
You have a new single coming out called “I’ve Found My Voice.” What inspired you to write this song and will there be a music video released as well?
I’m working on a music video for it right now, I usually give it a little time after the single comes out before I release a video. I’ve been so caught up in shows and my last single was doing well, so I didn’t release anything for a while. It has been about six months, which is unusual for me, when I started I was releasing something every month.
This song is seriously all about my husband. I have gone through so much growth and so many changes over the last few years and when I was working on this upcoming album, I had a couple of songs and [my husband] Brain listened to them and said they don’t really fit with the rest of the songs and I was like you’re right. I started thinking on that, thinking of where I am in my life with my music, with my persona, with how I feel about how I am presenting myself, and I really have come into my own but I wouldn’t have been able to do any of that without my husband. He has been so supportive through this whole process and has been there for me.
What can you share about possibly a new album being on the horizon?
I’m thinking right now I have three or four songs to record, so I’m hoping for February or March of next year. Until then I will keep releasing singles off of it and I’ll definitely put out another single by the end of the year and I really want to work on a couple of music videos for singles I released before that I didn’t have the time to do videos for. So we’ll see more music videos before the end of the year.
What else do you have coming up?
I’m doing an event with Natalie Doliner on Oct. 15 at The Center [Orlando], we are doing a fundraiser cabaret. I’m also hoping to have my Big Gay Wednesday that Wednesday [Oct. 18] prior to Come Out With Pride, we are finalizing it right now, and I’ll have my Halloween Brunch at The 808 Oct. 14.
Billy Mick’s new single “I Found My Voice” is out now. Go here to find links to listen to the full song and you can listen to a sample below. Keep up on all of Mick’s music, shows and events by going to BillyMick.com.
